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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja and Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, pledged to address three major requests tabled by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri, including the Oil Mining Lease (OML 46) licence which was revoked by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) with “promptness and immediacy.”
The Governor met with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Diri, who was accompanied to the meeting by his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, former Military Governor of Rivers State and Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, and the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama, King Bubaraye Dakolo, pleaded with Buhari to resolve the controversy surrounding the revoked Atala Marginal Oilfield (OML 46) licence, which is owned by the state government.
He said the state government acquired the marginal field through the Bayelsa Oil Company Limited (BOCL) since 2003, but was surprised that in April 2020, a few weeks after he assumed office, the Federal Government through the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revoked the licence.
Diri claimed the oilfield was reallocated to “a private company based on wrong information supplied to the relevant authorities.”
